by Debbie Dadey
“Hmmm,” Natalie said. “There has to be a way.”
The kids stayed up past their bedtimes, finishing homework and working on their science project.
Penny’s dad was not happy to be out after dark, digging in his yard.
Luke’s mother frowned as she stood in his bedroom doorway and told him to get to bed. “If you wouldn’t be goofing off in the yard all day long, you’d have your homework done on time,” she said with her hands on her hips.
“But we were planning our science project,” Luke said truthfully, looking up from his desk. He didn’t add the part about them figuring out how to rid the world of changelings, but he didn’t think his mom would believe him anyway.
Luke’s teenage sister, Kendall, couldn’t resist teasing her little brother. She leaned around his door frame.
“But Mom, Luke has to spend time with his girlfriends, Natalie and Penny. Hey Luke, which one do you love more?”
Luke felt his face go red and he dashed to grab his sister. “That’s not true!”
But his mom caught him and spun him around. “You go to bed. And Kendall, stop teasing your brother.”
Kendall laughed and slammed the door to the bathroom, but Luke could hear her humming, “First comes love, then comes marriage. Then comes Luke with the baby carriage.”
He was so mad, he could hardly think straight. He should have been happy. After all, Dracula was curled up beside his bed, hidden under the magic web, but Luke was embarrassed that Dracula had heard his sister’s teasing. Luke turned his radio on to drown out Kendall’s humming while he got ready for bed. When Luke was in bed, Dracula curled up beside his feet.
“My sister is a jerk,” Luke whispered.
Dracula didn’t move, but he did whisper something that made Luke gasp. “I have two sisters but the Queen imprisoned them.”
Luke patted Dracula’s nose. “I’m sorry,” Luke told his link.
The thought of being nice to Kendall made him shudder, but Luke promised himself to try. Even if she was a pest, he didn’t want her to be imprisoned by an evil queen.
“I’m scared,” Dracula sniffed. “Scared, scared, scared.” He thumped his tail on the bed with each word.
“So am I,” Luke said. “So am I.”
10
The next morning, Luke was grumpy. Penny yawned, but Natalie giggled as they walked down the sidewalk.
“What are you so happy about?” Luke asked irritably.
Natalie did a ballet twirl and even a little leap.
“Have you gone nuts?” Penny asked her.
“I’m just happy,” Natalie said.
“What’s there to be happy about?” Luke griped. “Half of Morgantown has been turned into changelings. And last night, Dracula told me that the Boggart Queen imprisoned his sisters.”
Penny put her hand over her heart. “Oh, that’s terrible. We have to stop that evil witch.”
Natalie nodded. “And that’s why I’m happy. Because today, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
“Just how do you plan to do that?” Luke asked.
Natalie patted her pink book bag. “It’s all in here. I worked on it last night.”
“What is it?” Penny asked.
Natalie stuck her nose up in the air. “That’s for me to know and you to find out. But don’t worry, as usual, I will save the day.”
“We’re all Keyholders, you know,” Luke told her as they came to the school building.
Natalie stopped dancing. “We’re supposed to be, but I still haven’t had my ceremony, and I’m a really good Keyholder.”
Luke groaned as Natalie skipped away. “Sometimes she makes me so mad I want to blow boogers.”
Penny nodded. “I know.”
Secretly, she was glad that Natalie had made Luke mad, but Penny was still worried about what Natalie could be doing.
“Come on,” Luke said. “This could be the most interesting day in the history of our school.”
“I hope Natalie didn’t forget about the science project. We’re supposed to present our plans after lunch,” Penny reminded him as they walked into the school.
Luke and Penny watched Natalie all day, but nothing happened. By lunchtime, Luke was convinced that Natalie wasn’t going to do anything.
In the cafeteria line, Luke whispered to Penny, “Meet me in the nature center after school.”
“What about Natalie?” Penny asked.
Luke shrugged. “She doesn’t want us to help her. So we don’t need her, either.”
Penny nodded, but before she could say a word a loud scream made everyone look at the center of the lunchroom. Natalie stood on top of a table. Everyone gasped, including the teachers and Mrs. Bender.
Natalie never broke the rules. She always did her homework. She always had her pencils and paper. She never caused trouble, but here she was standing amid lunch trays, holding a big wooden box.
“I would like to share my science fair idea with all of you,” Natalie yelled.
“Her idea?” Luke said, snapping his head to attention. “That was my idea.”
“What’s she doing?” Penny hissed. “We’re supposed to tell our class this afternoon.”
“My report is on worms,” Natalie said, opening the wooden box to display a wiggling mass of worms.
“That’s gross,” one fourth grader squealed.
“Cool,” Alex said. “That looks better than lunch.”
A bunch of kids laughed. None of the teachers laughed. In fact, they looked mean and a little green.
“I was supposed to get the worms,” Luke muttered.
“And I have a new computer,” Natalie told everyone.
Luke groaned. “There she goes bragging again.”
Natalie continued. “I found some worm jokes for you on my computer. What do you call it when worms take over the world?”
Nobody answered, so Natalie yelled out the punch line. “Global worming.”
There were a few snickers, but most of the teachers still frowned.
Penny shook her head. “This isn’t going to work.”
Natalie put the wooden box on the table and held up a long skinny worm. It wiggled and tried to squirm free.
“How can you tell which end of a worm is which?” she asked.
“The end that pees on you is the bottom,” Thomas yelled.
Natalie’s face turned red and she held the worm at arm’s length, but she told the answer. “You tickle it in the middle and see which end laughs.”
A few girls snickered, but most people groaned. It gave Penny a chance to tug on Natalie’s pant leg.
“What are you doing?” Penny asked Natalie. Luke stood beside Natalie with his arms crossed over his chest. He was still mad at Natalie for saying the worms were her idea.
Natalie whispered to Penny and Luke. “I’m trying to make everyone laugh.”
“This isn’t funny,” Luke said.
“It isn’t?” Natalie said. “But I thought . . .”
“Why don’t you just get down?” Luke asked.
Natalie shook her head. “Let me try one more joke.”
She stood up straight and said, “Why was the inchworm teacher unhappy?”
A fourth grader with buck teeth yelled, “Because the principal took away her coffee.”
“Along with our junk food,” a fifth grader screamed out.
Suddenly a blob of brown vegetables sailed through the air. “I can’t stand this food,” Alex yelled. “I want pizza and hot dogs.”
“I hate this food. And why can’t we have recess?” Thomas shouted.
Kids all over the lunchroom yelled and tossed their food at Natalie’s feet. Pretty soon, Natalie was ankle deep in blobs of green and brown food.
“Stop this instant,” Mrs. Bender shouted. She reached for Natalie, but Natalie sidestepped away. A pink notebook fell out of Mrs. Bender’s jacket pocket.
“My notebook!” Natalie screeched. Hundreds of kids and teachers saw the notebook at the same
time. They all knew about Natalie’s spying and note-taking. Everyone wondered what Natalie had written about them.
“Get that book!” Alex hollered. Kids and teachers alike ripped into the notebook before Natalie and Mrs. Bender could reach it.
“Natalie said I was stuck-up!” Thomas yelled, holding a shred of paper in the air.
“Stop it!” Natalie yelled from the edge of the crowd. “That’s my personal property.”
Mr. Crandle clapped his hands. “That’s enough. Give me that notebook.”
A fourth grade teacher gave him the pink notebook, at least what was left of it. Mr. Crandle handed the notebook to Natalie.
“They’ve destroyed it,” Natalie wailed, looking at the ripped book. All over the cafeteria, kids and teachers were showing each other pages from the notebook and shrieking at what Natalie had written.
Alex pointed to a torn page. “Look what Natalie wrote about Penny and Luke.”
Natalie dived for the torn page. Unfortunately, she slipped in the goop. Natalie’s box of worms went flying. The box sailed through the air, scattering worms everywhere.
Plop.
Worms landed on Natalie’s head.
Plop.
Worms landed on food trays.
Plop.
Worms even landed on Mrs. Bender.
Worms clung to Natalie’s ponytail. They crawled down her shirt. One dangled off her nose. Natalie stood in the middle of the cafeteria decorated by dangling, wiggling, slimy worms.
The cafeteria grew eerily silent. Silent, that is, until Natalie started dancing on the table. “EW! EW! EW! Get them off me!” she screeched.
“She’s doing the worm dance,” Alex teased.
Mr. Crandle chuckled. Some of the other teachers laughed, too. Prissy Natalie dancing, covered in worm goo, was just too much.
Penny wanted to help Natalie, but she realized the plan was working.
“The teachers are laughing,” Penny told Natalie.
Natalie kept on dancing. Soon the whole cafeteria was giggling, except Mrs. Bender.
“NO!” she screamed. “NOOOOOOOOO!”
But the teachers were caught in an unending fit of giggles. They held their stomachs. They gasped for breath. Then, one by one, the teachers pushed through the doors and disappeared down the hallways of Morgantown Elementary.
Luke and Penny stared after the disappearing teachers. Neither of them noticed a very angry Boggart Queen had Natalie in her clutches.
“Help!” Natalie screamed. The other students were laughing so hard they were doubled over. Nobody paid any attention to Mrs. Bender and Natalie.
“Oh, no,” Luke whispered when he saw his principal. “Links, we need you.”
Luke and Penny closed their eyes. Penny thought about Kirin leaping over the ground. Luke imagined Dracula soaring through the air.
“Hurry,” Penny whispered. “Please, hurry.”
Luke felt like his brain was tickling. He grabbed Penny’s arm. “They’re coming,” he told her.
“If only they can get here in time,” Penny said.
Mrs. Bender dragged Natalie toward the back door. “You’ll never stop me,” the fake principal said. “Never! Not as long as I have this!”
Mrs. Bender reached for the necklace she always wore. But this time, the necklace wasn’t there.
Penny pointed to the floor. There, buried under a pile of cooked spinach, was the ugly yellow necklace.
“Get it!” she screamed. “It’s the amulet.”
But Alex was skidding across the floor. He snatched up the necklace and swirled it over his head like a lasso. “That’s for taking away our recess!” he yelled.
Swoosh!
The necklace soared through the air.
Smack! Mrs. Bender reached for the necklace, but her high heeled boots slid on the slimy floor.
Thomas grabbed her necklace and flung it across the cafeteria. “That’s for taking away our snacks,” he screamed.
Splat! The necklace landed in a pile of green goop.
“I’ll get it,” Natalie yelled. She dived for the necklace, but her sneakers hit a pile of slop. She fell face down and skidded across the floor, knocking over a group of fourth graders.
Luke dived through the mashed potatoes and grabbed the string of yellow beads just before Mrs. Bender reached him. Only, she wasn’t Mrs. Bender anymore. The Boggart Queen had given up her disguise.
Luke looked up into her yellow eyes. “Quick,” he yelled to Penny. “Catch.”
He flung the beads through the air. Penny caught them and raced for the back door, the Queen right behind her. Natalie and Luke followed.
“Over here,” Luke yelled.
Suddenly, Luke felt a burning in his nose. He sniffed. He snorted. But it got worse and worse. He was going to sneeze. He just knew it. But this was not a normal sneeze. It was a DRAGON sneeze. Dracula’s sneeze!
“Our links are here!” Luke screamed. “Don’t let her get the beads. Whatever you do, don’t let her get them!”
Penny gripped the necklace in her hands and nodded. Then she lobbed the necklace to her friend, but the Boggart Queen was too fast. She jumped high, reaching for the beads. Just as her hand was about to close around them, the beads went up in a poof of smoke.
“NOOOOOOOO!” the Boggart Queen screamed as ashes fell down on her shoulders. And then, right before the kids’ eyes, the Boggart Queen disappeared.
11
“You were lucky,” Mr. Leery told Luke. “If anyone had seen Dracula, the results would have been disastrous.”
Luke, Penny, Natalie, and their links stood in Mr. Leery’s backyard the next day. Mo sat on Mr. Leery’s shoulder. Both he and his link looked healthy and strong.
Luke draped his arm over Dracula’s neck. “Thank goodness the invisibility web held up for one more day,” he said.
“Thank goodness for dragon breath.” Natalie giggled.
Luke squeezed Dracula’s neck gently. “You’re a hero,” Luke told him.
Dracula grinned and blew smoke rings in the air.
“What was that necklace made from?” Penny asked.
“Teeth,” Mo purred. “Baby teeth.”
“Mo is correct,” Mr. Leery told them. “The Queen held troll babies captive by stealing their baby teeth. As long as she possessed them, the changelings were under her control. As soon as Dracula destroyed that power, the changelings were free to go.”
“Wait a minute,” Natalie said, putting her hand on her forehead. “I thought the necklace had real people stuff, not troll baby teeth.”
“The necklace had to have both to be an amulet,” Mr. Leery explained. “The troll teeth were strung on strands of human hair. Only when they were combined with a magical spell could the real people become changelings.”
“So we had baby trolls in our school that looked like our teachers,” Penny said with a shudder.
“And our principal really was the Boggart Queen,” Luke added.
Mo purred and licked his paw. “Troll teachers are not the best.”
“And what about the real people they had replaced?” Penny asked.
“They’ll be returned in the dead of night. And they’ll remember nothing. Except, perhaps, for some very unusual dreams,” Mr. Leery answered.
“More like nightmares,” Mo said.
“Hush, Mo,” Mr. Leery said.
“So it’s over?” Natalie said. “I saved the world?”
“You all saved the world,” Mr. Leery said. “Once again, you have proven you are the true Keyholders. In the process you have broken the Queen’s spell on me and Mo. We thank you. So, please, follow me.”
Mr. Leery led the way across his yard. As he approached the thick web of bushes that bordered the entire town, the branches untangled and made a path. The kids and their links hurried after him. As soon as they had passed through to the other side, the branches clicked and clacked, knitting themselves back together.
Mr. Leery turned and smiled down at the three fr
iends. “It is time,” he said.
With his words, the forest around them came to life. Tiny fairies fluttered down from the trees. Elves and gnomes parted the underbrush. Soon the clearing was filled with magical creatures of all shapes and sizes.
Penny smiled when she heard Natalie’s gasp. It was like a beautiful picture book come to life.
A familiar old elf stepped forward. “Welcome to the Realm, our true Keyholders,” Bridger said.
He bowed low. Luke bowed in return. Penny curtsied and Natalie did a half bow–half curtsy.
With Bridger’s words, the fluttering wings of fairies thrummed and their tiny voices rose through the air in a crystal clear song.
“Centuries pass like a day.
New Keyholders look our way.
Keep our worlds free from those who roam.
Let all within each find a happy home.”
The fairies sang the song over and over while nymphs weaved blooming branches and vines around Natalie, Penny, and Luke until the three were united in a fragrant braid. Dracula leaned against Luke’s leg, Kirin nuzzled Penny’s shoulder, and Buttercup perched on Natalie’s head as magical creatures paraded by, touching each of them lightly on the forehead. With each touch, they murmured the same words.
“Three united as one,
true Keyholders you have become.”
Penny knew that someday Natalie would complain that she hadn’t had a ceremony just for her. But right now, Natalie was entranced by the enchanting fairy song and the parade of magical creatures.
“It is done,” Mr. Leery finally said, after a centaur touched Natalie’s head. “You are no longer apprentices. You are the three true Keyholders.”
“For real?” Natalie asked, a crown of purple flowers on her head.
“For real,” Mr. Leery told her. “You proved yourself worthy of the full title of Keyholder.”
Natalie stood in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by magical creatures.
“That’s true,” she said. “We defeated the Boggart Queen once and for all.”